Shorthand

:This article is about shorthand (stenography), not to be confused with steganography (hidden writing).

Common English shorthand systems

One of the most widely known forms of shorthand is the Pitman method, developed by Isaac Pitman in 1837. Isaac's brother Benn Pitman, who lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, was responsible for introducing the method to America. The method has been adapted for 15 languages. The system is phonetic as it is the word sounds that are written rather than the letters. For this reason, the system is sometimes known as phonography, meaning 'sound writing' in Greek. One of the reasons this method allows fast transcription is that vowel sounds are optional when only consonants are needed to determine a word.

Related Topics:
Pitman method - Isaac Pitman - 1837 - Cincinnati - Ohio - Phonetic - Greek - Vowel

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Although Pitman's method was extremely popular at first (and is still commonly used, especially in the UK) its popularity has been superseded (especially in the United States) by a method developed by John Robert Gregg in 1888. Gregg's system, like Pitman's, is phonetic, but has the advantage of being "light-line". While Pitman's system uses thick and thin strokes to distinguish related sounds, Gregg's uses only thin strokes and makes some of the same distinctions by the length of the stroke.

Related Topics:
UK - United States - John Robert Gregg - 1888 - Gregg's system

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